But Will There be Enough for PIE???

Arapaho Blackberries

My friends! The facetious, bull hockey artist known as yours truly is asking a stupid question. Why is it so stupid? Look at the evidence to your immediate right! Know what that is? That's about 5 lbs. of LIP-SMACKING blackberries harvested directly from the Bird Back 40. Know what's so special about this harvest? I'll tell you what's special.

It ain't done yet.

It's just getting started.

That 5 lbs. is a proverbial "drop in the bucket." 

Loaded Arapaho Blackberry Plant-Bird Back 40

Is 5 lbs. of freshly harvested blackberries enough for a blackberry pie? Is Bill Bird a facetious, bull hockey artist? Therefore -- we know the answer to the pie question. There's enough for pie. There's enough for two pies. Wait! Make that three pies! Anyone venture to guess, FOUR? Can you eat four blackberry pies? I honestly don't know if I could (in one sitting). But, I'll tell you this much. It sure would be fun to try!

The surprising thing about this haul from the Bird Back 40 is it came from just ONE blackberry bush. Yes, there's more. This boatload of berries came from the Arapaho Blackberry, which was nothing more than an impulse purchase three years ago at Lowe's Big Box store in West Sacramento. Hey! I needed another blackberry to complete my blackberry plantings.

Ripening Arapaho Blackberries

Up next is the harvest from the Black Satin Blackberry plant. I'll admit -- the harvest from the Black Satin is not going to be as wonderfully prolific as the Arapaho. Boo Hoo. Bill Bird gets two pies instead of five. Oh darn. Woe is me. Cue up the world's smallest violin. Oh -- wait -- did I forget to tell you about the boysenberry harvest?

I'll admit -- I didn't do any research about the Arapaho before I bought it. The bare root vine just happened to be there on that February afternoon three years ago. It looked good. I bought it. I wouldn't find out about this special plant till some years later when I finally got around to researching what I purchased. I'll be honest -- this isn't the smartest way of planning out a fresh fruit garden. Do your research FIRST -- then buy. That's a good rule of thumb.

Look Ma! No thorns!

But -- every once in a great while -- a squirrel finds a nut. In this case, the nut dropped directly from the tree and smacked me upside my head. As I would come to discover -- the best thing about the Arapaho plant is the thorns.

It doesn't have any. Say what, Willis? No thorns? Blackberry plants and thorns go together like peanut butter and jelly! A blackberry plant without thorns is one step short of sacrilege! You can do that now? The short answer is, "yes you can." A trip to the backyard blackberry patch no longer means a trip to the nearest medical center to be treated with Bactine and bandages.

Next Year's Fruiting Cane Emerges

The Arapaho is a fairly recent introduction from the University of Arkansas Department of Forestry and Agriculture. If UC Davis is famous for developing and breeding new cultivars of strawberry plants (which they are), the University of Arkansas has the market cornered on thornless blackberry production. The Arapaho, which was released to the public in 1993, is just one of many recent blackberry introductions. 

The University of Arkansas Blackberry Breeding Program has recently developed many excellent blackberry cultivars including: Apache, Arapaho, Cherokee, Comanche, Cheyenne, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Kiowa, Navaho, Ouachita, and Shawnee. Almost all of them are thornless and almost all grow and grow well from one end of the country to another.

In fact -- the one variety of blackberry that isn't supposed to grow well in the Sacramento area is, surprisingly, the Arapaho. It's recommended for Garden Zones 3-8. Bill Bird gardens in Zone 9A. I can attest that it really doesn't matter. The Arapaho loves it here -- and I have the lip-smacking pie ingredients to prove it.

Another nice thing about the Arapaho is it doesn't require any staking. It will fruit more if you do tie it to something -- but the Arapaho sends up canes as thick as a small tree trunk every spring and summer. Those canes that emerge this year will serve as the fruiting canes next season. Sure enough -- while the Arapaho was growing a boatload of fresh blackberries for Bill and the wife that is Venus this spring -- next year's fruiting cane emerged from the raised bed it calls home and has grown straight up to a height of seven feet. When next spring arrives, it will eventually get so heavy with fruit production that I'll need to tie it to something to keep it from collapsing.

Blackberry Pie! For me?

No matter. That's why God invented fences. And 4X4 posts. And concrete. And, nevermind...

As for the age of question of: Is there enough for pie? Well, photos do tell a wonderful story...

Happy, Happy Joy, Joy!!!

Only the BEST Christmas gift EVAR!

Riddle me this?

What's better than a shopping trip to the man's toy store -- also known as the Home Depot?

We'll -- I'll tell you.

It's a shopping trip to the man's toy store -- with a $200 gift card in Bill Bird's grubby little hands. Now that children -- is a slice of heaven! It's free cash! It's free stuff! It's one of the very few chances to spring on something that I WANT -- rather than what I really NEED.

As my dear old mother taught me years ago, there is a difference between the two. Although -- I must admit -- I do try to blur the lines as much as possible.

So -- on the first day of a three-day weekend -- our Master of All Things Gardening Errors found himself at the North Natomas Home Depot -- looking to pick up what he really needed and also a few things that he really WANTED.

Loading Up at the Depot

NEED: Light bulbs of all shapes and sizes. These goofy, new cookie-cutter homes in cookie-cutter developments are outfitted with every kind of light bulb conceivable to mankind. Remember when light bulbs came with four or five different choices? Were you shopping for 60 watt, 75 watt, or the dreaded 100 watt eye atomizer? A few years later -- a new choice entered the shopping realm -- regular blinding white or "soft white." But still -- choices were few and far between.

My friends -- those days are LONG gone. It's getting to the point now where someone could open a new store dedicated to light bulbs and light bulbs only. There's a reason why Home Depot dedicates an entire aisle to all things light bulbs. They come in an array of shapes, sizes, colors and tints now. Plug in or screw in? Saucer shaped or straight? Ceiling fan bulb or appliance bulb? Oh -- they might look the same -- but apparently -- there's a difference. Read label directions!

Bare Root Fruit Trees!

WANT: When it comes to a store like Home Depot I just can't confine myself to the areas that sell the products that Bill & Venus Bird really NEED. There's got to be that inevitable tour to the garden area where BARE ROOT season is in full swing this year.

There's nothing like row of neatly lined bare-root fruit trees to get the heart muscle pumping. Peaches here and plums there -- all of them promising a lip-smacking payoff. All you have to do is purchase -- take them home -- dig a hole and plant.

Or -- if you're not in the market for a fruit tree -- how about a fruit bush? Table grapes anyone? Blackberry vines? Raspberries? Boysenberries. They're all boxed up in an array of shapes and sizes -- just waiting for someone to take them home.

Bare Root Raspberry

But this time -- I would not allow my natural instinct of gluttony to take over. I learned a hard lesson last year when I followed some advice that may have not been all that good -- planting four bare-root blueberry bushes underneath our peach and cherry tree plantings. We were assured the pairing would work -- as would planting strawberry plants under said trees.

Unfortunately -- it didn't work. Three of the blueberry bushes gave up the ghost with the onset of summer. The fourth and final bush is still alive. Unfortunately -- the Lapin Cherry tree it was planted under? It died from what I strongly suspect to be brown rot. At least -- I think it's dead. I'll know more this spring when it should flower with abundance. If it doesn't? DEAD!

But -- back to the subject at hand -- I was actually looking for something specific. I would not find them at Home Depot on this day -- but I did find them later somewhere else.

But that is a blog subject for another day and time. As of right now? I have light bulbs to replace!

A Lip Smackin' HARVEST FESTIVAL!!!

Alright -- I'm not too proud to admit it. I do have this rather strange habit of drooling in front of any sort of vine-ripened fruit. I'm sorry -- but it's just one of those annoying little habits that developed over a period of decades. I can't help myself. Really, I can't! I mean -- just look at those LUSCIOUS -- not-quite-ripe -- blackberries to your right!

How can anyone not drool at a sight like that?

However -- I do have a eerie feeling that is why the good Master Gardeners at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center haven't extended an invitation to me yet to attend the upcoming Harvest Festival. I can't blame them really. The whole idea is to *excite* people into growing fresh fruit. Looking at some weirdo who can't keep his mouth shut in front of a blackberry vine? Not what the good people at the Horticulture Center ordered.

Alas -- I can't blame them.

But photos such as this -- and a whole lot more -- is what you'll find at the upcoming Harvest Festival -- which takes place on the first Saturday in August -- August 7th -- at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center on Fair Oaks Blvd. in the wonderful community of Fair Oaks no less (11549 Fair Oaks Boulevard to be exact).

Venus and I visited just under two months ago -- during a free open house -- where we were looking for and obtained table grape starter plants. And not just any table grapes mind you -- but the table grapes that tend to peform exceptionally well in our Northern California climate. While Venus got advice from one of the Master Gardeners to your left -- greedy Bill Bird was putting his fat paws on every table grape variety he could find (no -- I didn't take them all people -- there's lots and lots left).

But -- I really appreciated this visit. First -- it was a chance to talk to not one -- but several Master Gardeners who were there to answer every question you had -- no matter how weird. Trust me -- I had lots of weird questions. Secondly? These people really know what they're talking about when it comes to any kind of fruit or vegetable. You want advice? You need help? In need of a pep talk? A dry napkin? You'll find it at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center.

Well -- maybe not the napkin...

At any rate -- I can tell you -- without a doubt -- that these people know what they're talking about and then some. I have the proof. The six table grape vines that Venus and I purchased on that day are growing like weeds in the Bird Back 40. Some have already reached the top of our five-foot-tall trellis -- and we're in the process of encouraging lateral shoot growth now in hopes of enjoying a somewhat small harvest next season.

But -- I'll tell you what... I couldn't have done it without them....

But if you want to taste some tasty fruit -- or take a big, juicy bite out of a vine-ripened heirloom tomato -- or perhaps sample a berry or two? Harvest Festival at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center is the place to be. That's where Venus and I also discovered -- and filled up on I might add -- these Sharp Blue Blueberries that were READY FOR HARVEST.

That's right. The gardeners picked them. We ate them.

Only too happy to oblige...

Seriously though -- if you like "growing your own," or you're looking for some tips as to what fruit trees should be planted in the back or front yard? I highly suggest you skedaddle your way to Fair Oaks a week from this Saturday.

Not only will you find fruits and vegetables in abundance -- but you just might meet up with some rather famous garden types as well. No -- not us -- but perhaps Farmer Fred Hoffman? Yes -- the star of the "KFBK Garden Show" on NewsTalk 1530 KFBK  and "Get Growing" on Talk 650 KSTE will be there from 8:30-9:15 AM to speak on the subject of "Weeding Out Garden Myths."

Trust me -- after reading this blog for a couple of years? Fred has plenty of "myths" to tell you about -- like our rather *unfortunate* attempt to grow blueberry bushes under our stonefruit trees (didn't work out so well people -- two out of four have kicked the bucket this summer).

And if you're looking for me? Just look for the guy climbing up the peach tree and the unfortunate wife that is Venus attempting to pull me off.

It's fresh fruit season people. Bill Bird can't resist. It's my kind of party.

THE 411:

HARVEST DAY 2010

Saturday, August 7th

8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Fair Oaks Horticulture Center

11549 Fair Oaks Boulevard

Fair Oaks, CA 95628

Harvest Day 2010 highlights

Speakers:

8:30-9:15

Weeding Out Garden Myths

Farmer Fred Hoffman, Radio Garden Show Host, Lifetime Master Gardener

9:30-10:15

Arboretum All Stars: Why These Plants are Real Champions

Missy Borel, Program Manager, California Center for Urban Horticulture

10:30-11:1 5

Retrofitting For Dummies:

Cool Technology To Easily Upgrade A Water Wasting System

Don Smith, Water Conservation Coordinator, City of Folsom Utilities Department

11:30-12:15

Graze In Your Garden Year Round: Setting Aside Time and Space to Keep Your Harvest Basket Full

Alison Harris, Peas and Harmony LLC, Organic Food Gardens for Homes and Schools

12:30-1:15

Growing Succulents and Other Drought Tolerant Plants in Containers and in the Ground

Ernesto Sandoval, Curator, UC Davis Botanical Conservatory

Other Opportunities:

•Composting display - learn how to get started, see worm composting in action

•Fruit, tomato & grape tasting - sample a variety of fruits, see what you like before you plant

•Irrigation display area - see what’s new with irrigation

•Food vendor - cool off with an iced beverage or enjoy a snack in the shade of the oaks

•Silent auction - get your bid in early on some great gardening items

•Plant Clinic - have a sick plant diagnosed or have that pesky insect identified

•Community Garden and Food Closet - tour flower and vegetable gardens and chat with a gardener

•Support Sacramento County UC Master Gardeners - buy your 2011 Master Gardener Gardening Guide and Calendar